A blog about about painting, design and other aspects of aesthetics along with a dash of non-art topics. The point-of-view is that modernism in art is an idea that has, after a century or more, been thoroughly tested and found wanting. Not to say that it should be abolished -- just put in its proper, diminished place.

Monday, November 21, 2011

David Gauld: A Fringe Glasgow Boy

I know little about David Gauld (1865-1936) who Roger Billcliffe includes in his Glasgow Boys book, but admittedly as having a "distant relationship with the Boys."

It seems he worked in stained glass as well as painting, and a couple of 1888 paintings are done in an outlines-with-flatly-painted-interiors style that, for a reason I can't explain, has always intrigued me. Another reason for presenting him here is that my wife recently booked us on a tour of Ireland and Scotland for next summer, so I need to prime myself for some gallery gawking in those places. (I've been to Ireland and Scotland, but that was before I got involved with blogging about art. So while having paid some attention then, I plan to be more knowledgeable this time; be braced for more posts about Scottish and Irish painters.)

Here are a few examples of Gauld's work.

Gallery

Music - 1888

St. Agnes - 1888
These paintings are done in the cloisonné style mentioned above.

The Procession of St. Agnes
St. Agnes-related again, but in a more conventional style.

Portrait of Irene Vanburgh
A nicely done portrait of the actress.

At this point, I have have nothing special to say about Gauld's paintings. But I'll keep my eyes peeled once I'm in Glasgow and Edinburgh so that I might confront one in person.

2 comments:

dearieme
said...

Take your cheque book and credit card. About 35 years ago we were in an Edinburgh gallery and fell for a Raeburn portrait of Jeffrey (the Edinburgh Review chap)- we decided we could afford it if we sold our car. But we funked it. Don't make such a mistake yourself.

About Me

Undergraduate art major. Ph.D. in Sociology, Demography from a fancy Ivy university. Software system and user interface designer and programmer. Writing about art and design on the Internet since 2005.
Email: dbpittenger (at) earthlink.net